Internet providers launch copyright crackdown

Three more file-sharing web sites have been blocked by UK internet service providers (ISPs), while across the Atlantic an alert system to combat online content theft was launched last week by five leading US ISPs.

Internet providers take action

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The High Court in London last week ordered ISPs to block Kickass Torrents, H33T and Fenopy, with music industry group the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) claiming that the sites infringed copyright on a ‘significant scale’, reports the BBC.
A similar ruling was enforced last year on Swedish web site The Pirate Bay, although the effects of blocking only had a short-term effect on the levels of piracy.

Penalty system

Meanwhile, US ISPs are to monitor peer-to-peer web sites to identify copyright material and warn its users on a graduated penalty system.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Verizon, AT&T, Comcast, Cablevision and Time Warner have joined the project, which has been called the ‘Six Strike Policy’ as repeated alerts will lead to harsher penalties.